Amber Heard hits back at Johnny Depp with horrific abuse claims

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A psychologist testifying on behalf of Amber Heard says the actress suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after allegedly suffering violence at the hands of her ex-husband Johnny Depp.

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After Depp’s lawyers rested their case, Dr. Dawn Hughes was Heard’s first witness as she prepares to defend herself in a $50 million lawsuit filed by the Pirates of the Caribbean star in Virginia.

Depp, 58, is suing his 36-year-old ex-wife after she penned a 2018 op-ed claiming to be a survivor of domestic abuse. While not naming him, Depp maintains the The Washington Post article irreparably damaged his career and led to a slew of cancelled film projects, including a sixth Pirates movie.

Hughes detailed instances in which the Aquaman star was subjected to alleged sexual assault, which included allegations that the actor forced his former wife to give him oral sex, abused her with a bottle and performed “a cavity search” of her private areas.

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“When Mr. Depp was drunk or high, he threw her on the bed, ripped off her nightgown and tried to have sex with her,” Hughes said (via the New York Post). “There were times when he forced her to give him oral sex when he was angry with her.”

Hughes’ testimony contradicts that of Dr. Sharon Curry, a psychologist hired by Depp’s legal team.

Earlier in the trial, Curry testified she saw no evidence of PTSD in her evaluation of Heard and suggested the starlet “demonstrates psychological symptoms of combined borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder.”

But Currry acknowledged that the marriage could have had a detrimental effect on Heard’s mental state. “Just because somebody doesn’t have PTSD doesn’t mean that they weren’t harmed psychologically by whatever is being alleged — in this case, Ms. Heard is alleging that she was psychologically harmed and that she suffered PTSD because of abuse that she alleges occurred by Mr. Depp.”

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Elsewhere in her testimony, Hughes cited corroborating evidence of abuse, including alleged text messages sent by Depp admitting to his “bad behaviour when he drinks.”

Depp maintains that he never hit Heard and has alleged she was the abuser during their relationship, which began after the pair met while filming 2011’s The Rum Diary.

Several key witnesses have bolstered his claim, including Malcolm Connolly, one of Depp’s bodyguards, who recounted instances where Heard berated him calling him a “f—ing coward.” He also said that he noticed that Heard seemed to want to “wear the pants” in the marriage.

“It’s not my business I just do my job, but I could see he’s not happy,” Connolly said, according to Newsweek. Commenting on bruises visible on Depp’s face, he said, “He’s walked into a door, or a door’s walked into him.”

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Travis McGivern, another one of Depp’s security team, recounted several instances in which Heard was verbally and physically abusive with one exchange leaving the actor with a “nice little shiner.”

During his testimony last week, Depp denied ever hitting his former wife and said at the beginning of the trial that he is suing Heard in a bid to “clear my name.”

But in 2020, Depp lost a libel case against Britain’s The Sun for calling him a “wife-beater.”

After three weeks of hearings, High Court judge Andrew Nicol concluded Depp had violently assaulted his ex-wife, putting her in fear of her life.

Heard outlined 14 instances of violence when she said the actor choked, punched, slapped, head-butted, throttled and kicked her, with Nicol finding 12 of her accounts to be true.

Depp’s attempt to appeal the verdict in 2021 was denied.

After dumping her PR team and as pressure mounts to have her dropped from the next Aquaman film, Heard is expected to testify today.

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